This proposal seeks continued support for Maine's Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN) through an IdeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) among seven Maine institutions, with the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL) serving as lead institution. The overall goal of this INBRE is to augment and strengthen Maine's biomedical research capacity by further developing our collaborative network composed of two premier research institutions (MDIBL, The Jackson Laboratory), two undergraduate and graduate degree granting institutions (The University of Maine, College of the Atlantic), and three undergraduate degree granting institutions (Bates College, Bowdoin College, Colby College) INBRE will build on the successful foundation established by BRIN by further strengthening biomedical research infrastructure through a multidisciplinary research network with a thematic scientific focus in comparative functional genomics and with expanded opportunities for developing the biomedical research competitiveness of Maine scientists. The common hypothesis within the research network is that conservation of primary structure across orthologous genomic regions of vertebrate models, including elasmobranch, teleost, avian and mammalian species predicts the location of functional domains in proteins of interest, and also identifies potential novel regulatory sequences that can be tested in functional assays using these comparative models Maine's INBRE will a) provide research support and core facilities to junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students at participating institutions, b) create year-round and seasonal research and training opportunities for undergraduate students at participating institutions, c) provide outreach activities to students and faculty at all undergraduate institutions and community colleges in Maine, and through the above, d) serve as a pipeline for undergraduate students to pursue health research careers and enhance the scientific and technical knowledge of Maine's work force.